Going boldy where only a few games have gone before by
D'Marcus Beatty

The Star Trek series is in pretty dire straits right now. With the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, it is the first time for a long while that there hasn't been a Star Trek series on television. While it's generally debatable at what point the Star Trek universe took a turn for the worse, it is obvious that Trekkies are eager to revisit the final frontier.
While fans of Star Trek wait impatiently for their next opportunity to go "where no one/ man has gone before" Star Trek Legacy gives gamers the chance to save the galaxy throughout all of the eras of the Star Trek universe, beginning with Archer's Enterprise and ending with the Next Generation era.

Star Trek: Legacy follows a story that expertly ties all of the years of Star Trek together in one epic tale. The story starts quietly enough in the time of Archer's original Enterprise, then continues through Captain Kirk's Enterprise of TOS, finally finishing in the Jean-Luc Picard's Enterprise. The story is well done and ties together all of the time periods
without too much of a stretch in a story involving Romulans, Vulcans, and everyone's favorite cyborg zombies, the Borg.

The gameplay consists entirely of ship to ship battles, never letting the player see more than space stations, starships, and the final frontier. It is initially a little disappointing that there aren't any opportunities to see any likenesses of Archer, Kirk, or Picard, even though they are voiced expertly in Bachula, Shatner, and Stewart respectively all reprising their roles.

Starship battles make up the majority of gameplay, charging the player with protecting other Federation ships or planets and attacking enemy ships. While the ships can also tow disabled ships with the tractor beam, hail ships, scan the environment, and transport crew to and from planets, most of the time will be spent battling with other starships. There aren't any shifts from the game
world to acknowledge an answered hail, a successful transport or otherwise, just a voiced confirmation of achievement, which is somewhat disappointing. To break up the monotony, it may have been nice to see a view screen of a communication or an occasional cut scene of a transport.

The player controls the ship with the left analog stick and the camera with the right. The ships all control differently, depending on the class of ship and the technology of the era. For example, the Archer Enterprise has no shields and controls a little clumsier than the more powerful Next Generation Enterprise, and Scout class ships zip about faster than the clunkier but more powerful
Destroyer class ships. The left trigger fires phasers, and the right trigger fires photon torpedoes. The back button brings up a map that allows the player to choose faraway destinations and set headings, although gameplay continues while this is occurring. Players also have options like focusing power to the shields, weapons, or engines, or targeting specific systems on enemies' ships to
leave foes disabled but not destroyed. You can use long range scanners to check out your surroundings and even self-destruct your ship out of desperation. One thing that ships can't do, however, is ram other ships. When the ship collides with another ship or a planet, the ship simply bounces off of it. It would've added an element of strategy to allow players to ram others for damage or
force them to be more cautious to avoid damage, and it seems like an opportunity wasted.

The player earns command points from completing each mission, which can be used to purchase new ships from different classes. This allows the player to build a fleet of up to four ships to use on missions. The major problem with this setup is that the ship purchase screen comes up before the mission briefing, which means that the player doesn't know what is required of him on the next
mission to help choose what type of ship would be best suited for the mission. This is a fairly large oversight on the part of the developers.

Another major oversight is the fact that you can only save between missions. There isn't an option to save during missions and some of the longer ones can last for an hour. This means that if you don't complete all mandatory mission objectives, you have to replay the entire mission again regardless of your progress, which can get frustrating very quickly on some of the more difficult ones.

Visually, the game does very well. The game does a good job of re-creating all of the various starships accurately so that the starships are immediately recognizable on sight. The firefights in space are well done as well, with phasers and photon torpedoes looking like they do on their corresponding show. The graphics are next-gen, but not stunningly so, as the visuals just begin to feel boring after a while. However, one thing that the game does very well is creating a distinctly Trek experience. Everything is in place that a Trekkie would expect. Everything, from the sounds effects, to the voice acting, to the presentation, feels like Star Trek.

There are also a few multiplayer options. Skirmish mode allows the player to choose a ship from any era and any race. That means you can choose to pit a Borg cube against the James Kirk's Enterprise or against a Romulan Bird of Prey. You can also take the fight online to Xbox Live to challenge other gamers.

Ultimately, Star Trek: Legacy is a fun experience, especially for Trekkies. Although there are shortcomings, Legacy is an opportunity for Star Trek fans to experience ship battles from any of the Trek time periods. If you can look past the fact that you'll spend all of your time looking at the hulls of the ships, the battles can be fun.

Control
Controls are fairly tight and responsive, although they have a high learning curve.

4.0

Music
/ Sound FX / Voice Acting
Excellent, with professional actors and it delivers what is expected.

4.0

Play
Value
Story mode takes you through all eras, and online allows unlimited replay.

4.0

Overall
Rating - Great
Not an average. See Rating legend above
for a final score breakdown.

Preview

Innovation....the
final frontier of the gaming universe. by
Cole Smith

May
15, 2006 - After
several years absence, Star Trek is returning to try
and capture the console market - to boldly go where
no game has gone before

The
Star Trek franchise will be celebrating its 40th anniversary
this Fall and Star Trek: Legacy will be its special
birthday present.

I
truly respect the Star Trek franchise for staying
clear of the market when it's got nothing new to offer,
instead of throwing us a slightly updated annual rehash
like those confounded sports games. Star Trek's audience
is largely comprised of computer nerds, not necessarily
videogame addicts. Like the series and the movies,
Star Trek has always had more of a cerebral quality
to it as opposed to balls-to-the-wall action. As a
result, the Star Trek concept doesn't always translate
well in the realm of videogames without compromising
some of the franchise's hard-earned reputation.

Star
Trek: Legacy appears not to compromise the franchise
by resorting to mindless shooting. The game is strategy
based and puts you in command of an entire fleet of
warships. Legacy touches on all Star Trek epochs including
those of the Enterprise, Next Generation, Deep Space
Nine and Voyager. There are more than 60 different
vessels that span the entire Star Trek history. You
will play the role of Admiral and command a fleet
of ships eager to do battle against the various infamous
alien enemies which include the Klingons, Romulans
and Borgs.

It's
claimed that the gameplay will be much more accessible
than most strategy games as the annoying micromanagement
issues will be downplayed in favor of a challenging,
strategic war. Online, players will be able to play
as their favorite antagonists. It's been rumored that
a special alien race will also be included. The online
modes will include Co-op and Deathmatch modes with
scores of players taking part in full-scale wars.

When
issuing commands it's all about getting the ships
into the best possible position for firing. Each ship
has a finite amount of energy and you can transfer
that energy from the weapons to the shields or vice-versa.
After successful battles you will earn command points
which can be used to upgrade the various components
of the ship such as the armor, shields, speed and
weapons systems.

Dr.
Ian Davis, creative director of this project states
that the game has been in development for the past
four years. He says that a lot of that time has been
dedicated to the graphics. He and his team at Mad
Dog want this to be an epic adventure that will rival
any of the movies for sheer cinematic splendor.

Prepare
to launch into battle sometime before the '06 Holiday
Season.

Features:

Spans the entire Star Trek Universe. The Original
Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager,
and Enterprise. Its all here for you to control.

Real
time Starfleet combat. Engage in large-scale combat
with dozens of warships fighting simultaneous battles
across vast sections of space.

Detailed
weapon effects and damage modeling. Weapons searing
with energy and charged shields that surge with
every hit. Ships with full damage modeling that
break apart, strewing debris and sparks.

Customizable
fleets, ships, and captains. Victories earn Command
Points, which are used to personalize your fleet,
ships, and captains.

Single
player Federation campaign. Spanning three full
epochs (Enterprise, The Original Series, and The
Next Generation).

Robust
multiplayer with full Xbox Live support. From small-scale
engagements to all-out war involving multiple systems.
Matchmaking, stat tracking, and player rankings
on Xbox Live.

Over
sixty ships and four playable races. From small
scouts and light cruisers to fearsome battleships.
Command the powerful fleets of the Federation, Klingon,
Romulan, and Borg races. All beautifully rendered
with the latest technology.